A Better Ending
by sierra.steinbrecher
Summary: If you liked Ed and Al but wished the first anime could have ended differently, look no further. Here's an alternate ending to Fullmetal Alchemist, Conqueror of Shamballa. When Alphonse Heindrick comes to the world of alchemy, will he be able to keep up? I do not own the books, anime, or movie.


Note: This is an alternative ending to Fullmetal Alchemist Conqueror of Shamballa, starting at the point where Alphonse Heindrick is telling Ed to go home.

"This little one-seat shouldn't have any trouble."

Ed looked up at his friend. If this worked, they would probably never see each other again. He didn't want that to happen. "Come with me!"

Alphonse looked at him, eyes wide with surprise. "What?"

"Come with me. The rocket will still fire even with you in it, right? If it can reach that velocity, a few more pounds won't matter. Come on!"

Alphonse hesitated. He didn't have much longer anyway, and he wanted to spend the time he had left with Ed, even if it meant going to another world. But the rocket had to be launched from outside the cockpit. He opened his mouth to say that he couldn't.

"Go with him." Both boys turned around to see one of their rocketry friends. "You told me yourself that you would have liked to see the world Ed always talked about. Now's your chance. I can get the rocket set and launch it. Go on!"

Alphonse smiled at his comrade, jumped in with Ed, and pulled the top down. He watched as the rocket shifted upwards. Ed turned to look at his friend. "Are you ready?"

Alphonse looked at his friend's smiling face. "I'm ready." The rocket took off and hurtled towards the portal. The rockets made a powerful racket, which was a good thing for the two boys inside. They didn't have to hear the gunshot that killed their colleague, or the desperate cries of Noah, begging them to take her too. They just shot towards the yellow rectangle.

There was a jolt as they passed through, and then a shock as Alphonse stared at their surroundings. Black arms were waving everywhere in the yellow cloud surrounding them, attaching to both their rocket and them. "Ed, what are those things?"

"They're part of the truth that governs my world. Don't worry. As fast as we're going, they don't have time to touch us, let alone deconstruct us." Alphonse didn't like the sound of that, and Ed could tell. "Don't worry. Even if we did lose a limb or two, I'll be able to fix you up when we get there. Just hang on!" And they burst out of the yellow and black world.

Alphonse barely had time to notice the city around them before the rocket started to malfunction. "Ed, we're going down!"

Ed was straining at the controls. "I know! There's probably one of those black things jammed in the controls somewhere. We'll just have to ride it out."

Al stared at the rockets in disbelief. What were these things? All he had done was open the gate for his brother, and these things were coming out. Now one was headed right for them! He jumped at Winry, throwing her to the side of the street. The crashing rocket barely missed them, and continued down the street until it crashed in a cloud of smoke. As the fumes cleared, he saw a figure lying in the dust. _Is it him? Did I really bring him back? _

As the figure got to his knees, Al could see that it was Ed. He ran towards his brother and wrapped him in a hug. "I knew I'd see you again. But what is that thing you crashed in?"

"It's a rocket. You've never seen one before?" Al looked up, and saw another boy climbing out of the twisted wreckage.

Ed turned to look too. "Oh, I forgot to introduce you. This is Alphonse Heindrick. He's another world's version of you, and my friend. I asked him to come so we could get Doctor Marco to heal him with alchemy. Alphonse, this is my brother Al."

Al stared. It was like looking at an older version of himself. The other Alphonse laughed. "I can see why Ed wanted to come back so badly."

"Ah!" They were interrupted by a cry from Ed. He'd tried to stand and found his right leg broken from the crash. "Great. How am I supposed to fight when I can't even stand? I wish Winry were here."

Al bent down by his brother, a huge grin on his face. "Who said she isn't?" Ed followed his gaze and saw Winry standing, briefcase in hand.

"Well, are you going to introduce me, or does only Al get that privilege?" She bent down beside him and opened her briefcase.

Ed started. Inside was a brand new automail arm and leg. "They look great, but are you sure they'll fit? I'm not that short anymore."

"Who do you think you're dealing with here? I'm not so stupid that I'd think you hadn't changed in two years. Just let me attach them."

While Ed got his new arm and leg, Al told Ed what everyone had been doing since he left. It was good to know that Liore was rebuilding and that Major Armstrong was keeping everything running, but the news of Izumi's death and Mustang's depression was harder to swallow.

"So you're an alchemist now, huh Al?"

Winry looked up from the arm band she was attaching. "Yeah, and a pretty good one too. I think he's the one that made the gate that brought you home."

"What?" Ed started to stand, but Winry pushed him back down? "You're the one who let them all get through? But those monsters want to use weapons from this world to fuel their own wars! We've got to get up there and stop them! Are you done yet, Winry?"

She sat back on her heels and inspected her handiwork. "Yes. Try standing up." Ed almost jumped to his feet. "Considering all the guesswork, I'd say they're a pretty good fit, huh Ed." That was an understatement. She'd calculated his exact height, right down to the length of his fingers. But she didn't have much time to admire her new automail. Ed was already running off with Al, shouting about how they had to help.

The other Alphonse smiled. "There he goes, running off again. Was he always like that?"

"Yeah. He never came home except to get his automail fixed, but that's what you get for being a State Alchemist."

"What's an alchemist?"

Winry looked at him in disbelief. "You don't know what an alchemist is? You really must be from a different world. But I'll explain later. We can't lose track of those two or we'll get lost down here. Come on." Winry and Alphonse caught up with the brothers just as they reached the surface. The ground was littered with debris and fallen soldiers from the other world. A rocket flew overhead, one of the many that Alphonse had made for Eckhart.

Ed turned to his brother. "That's the command ship above us. If we can get up there, we can shut it down from the inside and stop this from getting any worse." He was about to clap his hands together when Alphonse grabbed his shirt.

"Let me come too. I built these ships, so I know the best way to shut them down. But how are you going to get up there without anything."

Ed smiled at his friend. "Just stand between me and Al and we'll get you up there. Don't you remember all the stories I told you about alchemy?" He clapped his hands together and put them on the ground. Alphonse stumbled and almost fell off as the ground where they were standing rocketed into the sky. Ed shouted to his brother over the crackle of his transmuting. "Al, can you make a spire and skewer that thing? We've got to keep it from getting away."

Al put his hands to the platform and within seconds a narrow column of rock was extended towards the airship with a good three feet of the end imbedded in the hull.

Alphonse could not have been more surprised. Ed grinned. "Do you believe me now?" Alphonse didn't answer. He was too busy gaping.

Al got up from the base of the column. "Now what do we do?"

Ed said "You go with Alphonse and help him shut down the airship. I'll deal with Eckhart." He clapped his hands together and pressed them against the column, flattening it out so they could walk up to the air ship. But just as Ed put his foot on the platform, a crash knocked all three knocked all three off their feet and almost off the platform. The airship was firing at them using alchemy!

Ed looked nervously around. "It's gonna hit us if we don't do something quick!"

Then another boom sounded, only this time it was aimed at the guns on the side of the airship. "If you're going to strike, do it now, Fullmetal." It was the general in a hot air balloon. "I'll cover you until you get inside and keep them from using any alchemic missiles. Now go!" The trio raced up the column.

Once Alphonse had pointed Ed in the direction of the cockpit where Eckhart was, he and Al headed towards the engine room. "Are you sure your brother will be alright? I mean he can do alchemy but so can she."

"You don't know my brother. He's not just a genius alchemist; he's also a great fighter. He'll be fine. Now what do we need to do to stop this thing?" They must have been running faster than Alphonse thought. They were already in the engine room.

"Find something that looks like a valve and twist it until it's closed. That should stop the airship from moving but keep it in the air. We don't want it crashing in the city."

Al found the valve and twisted it shut. "Done. Now let's go help Ed." They raced back through the airship but by the time they got to the cockpit, Ed had already knocked out Eckhart. Al turned to Alphonse. "See? I told you he didn't need any help. Now let's get out of here." They turned to leave but Ed didn't follow them. "Brother, come on. We need to go."

Ed shook his head. "I can't Al. I need to take these soldiers back and destroy the gate on their side, before these people start a full scale war on this world."

Alphonse was shocked. For the two years he had known Ed, all the guy had ever talked about was getting back to his old world, and now he was going to leave it just to keep it safe? Alphonse wasn't about to let that happen. "Ed, you don't have to go back. If just I go back, I can destroy the gate and keep both sides safe. And since you can't use alchemy in my world anyway there's no reason you could do it but I couldn't."

Ed was surprised. "That could work. But are you sure you could destroy it? I mean, you don't know anything about alchemy."

"Over on that side, it's not alchemy. It's just some markings on the floor. If I erase those, I can destroy the gate and the portal. Leave it to me."

"Thanks, Alphonse. I hope you make it back safe." And the brothers took off leaving Alphonse to round up the remaining soldiers and fly through the portal.

Once they were down the column and onto the midair platform, Ed transmuted the pillar so that it wasn't jammed into the airship anymore. They watched as Alphonse piloted towards the hole in the city that lead to the underground portal. Ed sighed. "I'll miss him."

Al laughed. "Not as much as I would have missed you! But come on. We've got to get down and show everyone that you're back. Winry's waiting." As they looked down at the base to try and figure out the best way to get down, they saw that a huge crowd had gathered around the base, mostly made of military personal. "Looks like Winry isn't the only one waiting for you."

Ed sighed again, this time from exasperation. "They probably just wanted to see who was causing all the commotion up there. Oh well, we might as well get down." They ran down the side of the column and towards the waiting crowd of old friends.


End file.
